Young People: Government Policy

Question

11:16:00

Asked by

To ask His Majesty’s Government, further to the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award report Youth Voices 2024, published on 23 July, what assessment they have made of how young people are represented in Government policy development and decision-making.

The noble Baroness mentions a report that highlights how young people feel disengaged from politics and policy-making. We know that if we fail to involve young people in the development of policies that affect them, we may widen the disengagement gap between young people and politics. This Government are committed to empowering young people to make a difference in their communities and are working work with them to develop a new national strategy for young people.

My Lords, the Minister refers to a new strategy. In the real world, there is a key ask in Youth Voices 2024, which reports on a wide consultation. The key ask is to say, “Can there be in that strategy a commitment to involve meaningful representation of young people and involvement at all levels of policy-making?” Does she agree that that will be in the strategy? How will it be delivered?

The Secretary of State is incredibly passionate about the new national youth strategy and the principle of coproduction with young people and the sector. She is clear that it will support the next generation to succeed. Unfortunately, I have to say that further details will be announced shortly, but I and the Secretary of State are clear that integrating the youth voice in policy-making can strengthen the quality of policies that affected people, build bridges between young people and government and make sure that the policies that affect them are the ones that they want and that recognise and reflect their needs and aspirations for the future.

My Lords, I know that the Minister will welcome the initiative by the Lord Speaker and the education and outreach service from Parliament. Perhaps she would also indicate how critical it is that citizenship is taught in schools and that citizenship encouraged in terms of youth provision is vital. On a day when my grandchildren, Finley and Harriet, are in the gallery, will she, with the education service and the Minister of State, help to make this work for the future, because it is crucial to our democracy?

Absolutely, and one of the things that was striking from the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award survey was that two-thirds of the young people surveyed were politically active but only 40% were likely to vote in a general election. For me that was really telling. Young people are engaged and we need to use every mechanism to make sure that they see their political activity reflected in the type of politics we engage with in your Lordships’ House and in the other place. I will speak to the Minister of State in the Department for Education about this, but I am confident that the curriculum review will allow for a proper assessment of what is required for future education in this space.

My Lords, does the Minister agree that one of the main conclusions of the excellent Youth Voices report is the failure to reach young people? And does she further agree that one way of encouraging participation would be to have mandatory and tailor-made citizenship classes at both primary and secondary level?

The noble Baroness correctly identifies that schools are the place in which we can reach children most systematically. I will feed that back to the Minister of State. I had understood that citizenship did run through the curriculum, but I stand to be corrected and I will pick that up with my noble friend.

My Lords, do the Government agree that it does not matter what you do unless you get that information out to the group that is going to consume it? Are the Government going to have a strategy for having online news and information about politics that is targeted at the young where they are liable to read it? Because it is quite clear they are not engaging with traditional forms of news and information.

The noble Lord correctly identifies that one of the reasons young people do not engage with traditional politics is that we do not engage with them. I will feed back the points he raises but I assume that, as the national youth strategy is going to be co-produced with young people, how politicians communicate with young people, including what resources we need online, will be part of the development of that strategy.

My Lords, I am delighted that the noble Baroness and the Government are helping to ensure that people of all ages can play their full part in our democratic processes, but how does she square that with the Government’s proposals to remove people from one of our Houses of Parliament based solely on their age?

The noble Lord might have to wait until that comes up through the legislative process to have a further debate on that point.

Will my noble friend the Minister look at the recent experience of the Hansard Society—I declare an interest as the chair—in running mock elections with many schools in this country at very short notice and developing a comprehensive and effective way of engaging young people in our democratic process?

My noble friend makes a valid point. From my own experience, my first formal political engagement was through the democratic process when I voted for the first time as an 18 year-old. But we had had a youth election at the school. I am not sure I won it, but it is a really important way and I pay tribute to everybody, including schools, who managed to put together mock elections at such short notice.

My Lords, in recent months I have visited a number of schools and colleges and young people have told me that they fear that they are not going to be able to afford to buy their own home in the future and will not have a job after they leave education. What are the Government going to do to ensure that they meaningfully engage with young people to find out what priorities they care about and to involve them in the solution?

Going back to the report the Question relates to, housing did come up as one of the key issues, and the cost of being able to afford somewhere to live. Obviously, it is not just an issue of people needing to stay at home; they cannot envisage getting out of house shares or flat shares. I hope they will recognise that the Government’s planned investment in housing for first-time buyers and social housing reflects their need and desire to have their own home.

My Lords, are His Majesty’s Government willing to reconsider extending the franchise to 16 and 17 year-olds?

We are planning to introduce votes for 16 and 17 year-olds because they can work, pay tax and serve the country in the Armed Forces. We think it therefore stands that they should be entitled to vote and have their say on the issues that affect them and their future. We will legislate to lower the voting age to 16 for all UK elections when parliamentary time allows.

My Lords, I was very happily surprised to learn that one of my grandsons, who lives long-term in Prague, is able to take the scheme. Is the scheme not a valuable contribution to people beyond our shores and should not this be noted?

I was not aware that it was available to young people in Prague, but I welcome that point. The role of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme in opening up activities to young people who might otherwise not have the opportunity to take part in them is recognised on a cross-party basis.

My Lords, young people are deeply concerned about the climate crisis. What efforts are the Government considering to set up a national volunteering service to encourage our young people to get involved in helping to fight the climate crisis in a way that is beneficial to everyone?

I do not want to pre-empt the work that the Secretary of State is going to do, working with young people. I recognise from my own family the deep concern young people have about the climate crisis, but I think we should leave it to the Secretary of State and the young people she is working with to focus on how that would best be delivered for them.